Hail To The King
by AlElizabeth
Summary: AU Oneshot Set season 14. Demons are after Sam Winchester but with a very unusual proposition.


The diner looked like it had opened in the '60s and hadn't been renovated since. The floor was black-and-white tiles in a checkerboard pattern. Formica tables and red vinyl upholstered booths and chairs. A counter and stools. There was even a jukebox in the corner.

Dean and Sam took a booth at the back, near the restrooms, and waited.

A young waitress wearing a yellow skirt, white blouse and apron approached, smiling. She had two menus tucked against her chest.

"Welcome to Dot's Diner," she greeted the brothers, "Can I start you with something to drink?"

"Coffee?" Dean asked and the girl nodded. She looked to Sam.

"Same," he replied.

The waitress handed them menus and told them she'd be back in a minute.

"She's cute," Dean whispered to Sam, watching their waitress retreat.

Sam just stared at his brother, "Dude, she's gotta be sixteen."

Dean looked at him, "What? I can't think she's attractive?"

Sam shook his head, "Not if you're into jailbait."

Dean grunted and picked up his menu. Sam opened his own menu and perused the options even though he knew what he wanted.

Moments later, their waitress returned with a pot of coffee. She smiled at Dean as she poured coffee into his mug.

"Thanks, Sweetheart," the older brother smiled, making the girl blush.

"Thanks," Sam muttered when she had filled his mug.

"Are you ready or do you need some more time to decide?" the girl asked.

"Give us a few more minutes," Dean commented. The girl nodded and left, stopping at a elderly couple's table to refill their coffee.

Sam closed his menu and pushed it to one side. He added sugar and cream to his coffee before taking a sip.

"You know what you want?" Dean asked, looking at him from over the top of his menu.

Sam nodded.

"Pancakes," he told his brother the same time Dean spoke, "Pancakes."

"You'd think you'd be more adventurous," Dean commented, "Seeing as our lives are so exciting."

Sam grimaced, "It's _because _our lives are so exciting that I like the same thing for breakfast. I know what I'm getting with pancakes; I can't be surprised."

Dean just shook his head and slurped at his coffee loudly.

Once again their waitress returned.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"Just about-" Dean began but the girl interrupted.

"I wasn't talking to you," she said, "I was talking to your brother."

The waitress' eyes turned completely black. Sam choked on his coffee and Dean reached towards his gun.

"Whoa! Hold on!" the demon raised her hands, "I come in peace!"

"What do you want?" Dean growled, fingers itching to grab his gun.

"I just want to talk… We just want to talk," the demon told them, "That's all, so you can calm down."

Sam turned to peer over the top of the booth and saw that the other customers were staring in their direction, all of them had black eyes.

"What do you want?" Sam asked, repeating his brother's question, since the demon seemed to want only to speak with him.

"We know what happened with Kip," the girl said and Sam tensed.

"Don't worry," the demon added, "I'm not going to try the same thing he did."

Dean glanced at Sam from across the table, his expression confused, but the younger sibling didn't have time to explain.

"Then what's this about?" Sam asked.

"A group of us got to talking," the demon explained, "And we realized that there is no way we'd be able to vote on who should be king. We _all _want to be the boss. So, we'd just end up killing each other over it."

"So?" Dean interrupted, "Why is that a problem?"

The girl didn't look at him; she kept her gaze on the younger Winchester.

"We need a leader," the demon explained, "We don't do well on our own. We need someone to tell us what to do, as hard as that may be to believe."

"Are you getting to the point?" Sam asked.

"My point is," the demon said, "Instead of fighting each other over the throne, we thought we could ask you to take it."

Sam stared at the girl, trying to comprehend what she had just said.

"You… You want me to take the throne?" Sam stammered.

The demon smiled, "Exactly."

Sam looked at Dean.

"Why would I do that?" he asked.

"You may not be a full-fledged demon," the girl said, "But you do have demon blood in your veins. Plus, the others would be fools to oppose you if you wore the crown."

Sam, unable to help himself, laughed. The idea of him being king of Hell was so ridiculous he couldn't help it.

The girl frowned.

"It's not like we came to this decision easily," she told him, "But we agreed it was better than slaughtering each other."

Again, Sam glanced at the demon customers.

"They all think I should be king?"

The girl nodded, "Why don't I give you a few minutes to think about it? Talk it over with your brother?"

Sam was shaking his head; there was no way he was going to even entertain the idea, but the demon headed back into the kitchen.

"Sammy," Dean leaned forward, "You have to do it."

Sam frowned, "What? Are you insane?"

"Just think about it, for a second," Dean whispered, "This could really work in our favour."

Sam shook his head but Dean continued, "If you're king of Hell, you can control the demons, you tell them what to do, what not to do. You can tell them to stop doing deals, attacking innocent people, stop torturing souls…"

Sam didn't speak.

"We still don't know where Michael is," Dean reminded him, "You could have a whole army of spies looking for him. And, you could have them search for a weapon to kill the son of a bitch with."

Sam shook his head.

"Oh c'mon!" Dean snapped, "This could be our chance to make a difference, a _real _difference in the world."

"Then why don't you become king of Hell?" Sam muttered.

Dean sat back, looked like he was trying to think of what to say, and then finally, "Because they want you, Sam."

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose, "I don't know, Dean. This… This just seems so crazy."

"When are our lives not crazy?" Dean asked.

"You know what I mean," Sam growled, then, "Maybe we should talk with the others first; I'm sure Cas and Mom and Bobby will have something to say."

Dean was shaking his head this time, "Sam, we don't need them to help us decide. You can do it."

"I don't want to," Sam argued.

Dean sighed, "And all that other stuff that's happened, you're telling me you wanted to do that?"

"No," Sam muttered, "But-"

"Take one for the team!" Dean exclaimed, "I did when I said 'yes' to Michael!"

Sam didn't respond. Instead, he grabbed his cup of coffee and drained it.

"You really think this'll help us?" he asked Dean and his brother nodded.

"It's worth a shot, right?" Dean's tone was softer now, "Even if they can't help us out with Michael, we can still keep people safe from them."

Sam nodded and sighed, "I guess you're right."

"It won't be so bad," Dean assured him, "You'll see."

Sam shook his head. The waitress approached them from the kitchen, her expression anticipatory.

"Well? Have you decided what you're going to do?" she asked, once again only looking at Sam.

"Yeah," he muttered, "I'll do it."

The demon grinned and clapped her hands together.

"I was hoping you would," she told him and then reached out a hand, "Come on."

Sam blinked at her, "Where?"

The demon's smile faltered slightly, "To Hell, of course."

Sam unconsciously slid back across the booth, away from the demon, "You didn't say anything about actually going to Hell."

The demon gave him a withering look, "You didn't think you could just ignore your subjects?"

Sam looked to Dean.

The demon sighed, "Listen, you don't have to stay, okay? Just make an appearance every once in a while, kiss hands, shake babies, that kind of thing."

"You promise?" Sam asked, eyes narrowed at the demon, "This isn't some kind of trap?"

The girl shook her head, "Hey, you're going to be king. I don't fancy committing treason before we even get started."

"Okay," Sam said hesitantly, "But Dean's coming with me."

The demon nodded, "Fine."

She held out a hand to each Winchester and cautiously, Sam touched her fingers. A sudden sensation of falling gripped the hunter and for a second he panicked before he felt his feet touch solid ground. Staggering slightly, he released his hold on the demon's fingers and opened his eyes. Blinking in the gloom, Sam realized they were standing in Hell's throne room.

"Well, isn't this inviting," Dean commented from beside him.

The floor and walls were stone, two stained glass windows shone multicoloured light behind a carved stone chair which sat atop two steps. A red carpet trailed from the throne, across the room to a set of double doors hewn from wood. Along the walls, torches held flickering flames, illuminating the room.

"You can change it, you know," the demon told Sam, "If you want to sit on the Iron Throne or a La-Z Boy recliner or a chair made of cheeseburgers you can."

Sam nodded vaguely. There was an off-putting smell in the room; a mixture of sulfur and burning flesh that made his heart beat just a little bit faster than normal, that made sweat bead on his brow, and the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"-put a library in here or something, knowing him," Dean was talking with the demon.

"What do I do now?" Sam turned to the girl.

"You have to make it official," she told him and nodded at the throne, "You have to sit down. Wear the crown."

"Practice your royal wave," Dean added, grinning.

Sam swallowed, "I- I don't know if I can do this."

"It's painless," the demon assured him, "And when it's done you can go Topside again."

Sam looked at his brother.

"I'll be right here, Sammy," Dean reassured him, "I'm not going anywhere."

"I'll be right back," the demon told Sam, "Make yourself comfortable."

The hunter watched as the girl walked across the room, keeping to the red carpet, then eased the heavy wooden door open and slipped out.

He jumped when a hand touched his shoulder but it was only his brother.

"You'll be fine, Sammy," Dean said, "Just pretend your Kate Middleton."

Sam couldn't force himself to laugh. Instead he took slow, measured steps towards the intimidating stone throne.

Crowley sat on this thing, Sam thought, so did Lucifer.

He shuddered at the touch but climbed the two steps up to the throne and turned around. Cautiously, as though afraid something might happen as soon as he touched it, Sam sat on the very edge of the throne, the stone cold, seeping through the seat of his pants instantly. Sam had his hands crossed over his chest but realized that wouldn't be proper and carefully laid his arms on the throne's arms.

"You sure you don't want to change that into a beanbag chair or something, Sammy?" Dean asked but his brother didn't reply.

The door to the throne room opened and their waitress appeared again, carrying a blood-red pillow in her hands, a crown perched upon it. As she started to walk back up the red carpet, the door remained opened and one by one, more demons entered, their eyes as black as coal.

Sam gripped the end of the throne's arms tightly, his jaw clenched. Why was he doing this? Why had he agreed to this?

The hunter watched as the demons stood along the red carpet, flanking it, first one row and then another and another. If they wanted to kill him and Dean, it would be only too easy. They were far outnumbered and had no weapons to defend themselves with.

The waitress climbed the two steps to the throne and dropped to one knee, holding the pillow up. The demons watching were as silent as the grave, all their eyes trained on the hunter sitting on the throne.

"Take it," the waitress hissed quietly.

Slowly, his hand actually shaking, Sam reached out for the crown. It was not as spectacular as he'd thought it might be. It appeared to be made of a dark, somewhat dull metal, like pewter, inlaid with what could have been obsidian, ruby and citrine. Cruel spikes thrust up from the crown, reminding the hunter that this was meant to be worn by the ruler of Hell.

"Put it on," the girl hissed again.

Swallowing, Sam raised the crown and gently placed it on his head. He held his breath, waiting for something to happen but nothing did. The crown weighed heavily on his head but that was all.

The demon smiled, stood and turned around.

"All hail the king!" she cried and the assembled demons repeated the cheer, once, twice, three times.

Sam dared to look at Dean and his brother was giving him a bewildered smile. Clearly he had thought something more was going to happen as well.

Sam grabbed the crown and stood up. He'd had enough. He wanted to get out of here.

"Hey!" he barked at the waitress and she looked at him, her smiling fading a bit, "I want to leave now."

"You have to stay," she told him, "Don't you want to meet your subjects?"

"Uh… no," Sam muttered but she ignored him, reaching out and grabbing his arm.

"They want to meet you," she told him, "Then you can go back."

Sam reached out and grabbed at his brother but missed. Dean however quickly followed as the demon waitress shoved Sam into the crowd.

Sam's anxiety built as he was surrounded by demons, all of them trying to touch him or talk to him. Dean quickly realized this and positioned himself as best he could between the crowd and his brother, acting as bodyguard.

"-heard so much about you-"

"-always wanted to meet you-"

"-terrifying hunter-"

"-Boy with Demon Blood-"

"-Azazel was-"

"-Crowley thought-"

"-believed Lucifer-"

Sam's head was swimming by the time the demons had left the throne room. He pinched the bridge of his nose, a headache throbbing behind his temples.

"Can we go back now?" he muttered.

The waitress, whom said her name was Cordelia, nodded.

"Thank you," Sam said gratefully and held the crown out.

Cordelia shook her head and put her hand on the crown, "You keep it."

Sam sighed and nodded. Reaching out with his other hand, he took hold of the demon's fingers. Dean grabbed her wrist.

Moments later, the brothers were standing outside of Dot's Diner, right in front of the parked Impala.

Cordelia smiled at Sam, "You don't know what you've done for us, Sam Winchester."

Sam shrugged, "Don't mention it."

"Can I see your phone?" she asked, holding out a hand.

"Uh, why?" he asked.

"I'm going to put my number in it," she told him and the hunter reluctantly gave her the phone.

While she did that, Dean climbed into the car and turned on the engine.

Cordelia handed Sam his phone and curtsied before heading back into the diner. The hunter looked after her for a moment before shaking his head and opening the passenger's side door. Sliding onto the bench seat, he tossed the crown into the back.

"What do you say we head home, your Majesty?" Dean asked and backed the vehicle up.

"Don't," Sam warned, "Call me that."

"Your Highness?" Dean asked, grinning.

"No," Sam growled.

"King Samuel the First?"

"Dean," Sam warned, "I'm warning you."

His brother snorted, "Sure."

Sam closed his eyes and sighed.

"How about your Excellency?" Dean sniggered.

"DEAN!"

**Author's Note:**

**Fanfic title comes from an Avenged Sevenfold song of the same name. **

**Please take a moment to leave a review if you enjoyed this story. **


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